Second piece for World of Interiors
I've written a book review for the May 2019 edition of World of Interiors (page 40). I was invited to read the brilliant "Truth, Beauty, Chaos and Plants" by Georgina Reid aka as The Plant Hunter. She profiles passionate gardeners from around Australasia and California in pursuit of a definition of gardening. Earlier in the year I wrote a journal piece for the back page of the March edition in which I chart my transition to getting a guerrilla garden underway in Totnes.
Rakuten pitch win
Working with long time collaborators Noah we were the underdog agency who have went on to win a brief from Rakuten, (the big Japanese brand that few people have heard of), to raise awareness and understanding of the brand across Europe. I led the strategic pitch, working from New Zealand, Devon and London. We are now in the early stages of developing this thinking into advertising.
Archive for Mobile Gardeners and Elephant and Castle Urban Forest
Two of the community projects I helped create at Elephant and Castle have been 'archived' online now as I have moved away from the area. Their websites MobileGardeners.org and ElephantandCastleUrbanForest.org now chart the history of these projects that sought to transform section of the landscape and community in a dense and fast changing part of south London. Mobile Gardeners retains an interest in the continued community gardening by local residents at Elliott's Row Pocket Park, but all other activity has ceased.
Chic T-shirts sold out
My limited edition batch of Chic T-shirts has sold out. The sales have raised $300 for the We Are Family Foundation. I am considering creating a third batch of about 50 shirts and have a few people on the waiting list already. If you are interested in placing an advanced order (no payment required at this stage), please contact me richard@goodatmagic.com
"Unsafe and Unpleasant". My dossier on the disastrous new Elephant and Castle junction.
I began campaigning against the proposed changes to the Elephant and Castle Roundabout in 2011, a junction I have lived next to since 2004. The plans for change were driven by Transport for London and Southwark Council who together sought to prioritise the creation of a new public 'square' over transport needs in their pursuit of an alluring perception-changing trigger for inward investment from developers (one developers of the shopping centre told me during a meeting in their Mayfair offices, was actually unnecessary and of some concern). TfL relegated safe, pleasant passage across and along London's inner ring road as less important than 'place making'. By forcing everyone to share ground level instead of benefitting from subways that had been present since Edwardian times, and by replacing an efficient five-pronged roundabout with a complex traffic-light-controlled 'bend' they replaced a dangerous roundabout with an even wider road that since opening in December 2015 has killed two and increased congestion and air pollution for everyone. Today I publish a second edition report on how this project came to be, identified the designed in dangers and described the consequences. It is a shameful tale from which hopefully lessons can be learned. Visit ElephantandCastleRoundabout.org
Third win of new Suzuki launch
A few years back I helped Noah win Suzuki SX4 S Cross' European advertising launch pitching against five other European agencies, then in 2015 secured the launch for the brilliant new Vitara (see TV ad). We hoped for third time lucky when it came to Ignis (see TV ad), and sure enough the campaign was ours (only just when Suzuki's first choice admitted their pitch winning idea was impossible to make). It's not all success as we didn't win Baleno's relaunch, but its Vitara and Ignis that are the sales hits for Suzuki.
New Chic T-shirts
After popular demand I have made my first new batch of T-shirts in five years. They are a revival of the 2003 design that is a tribute to The Chic Organization Ltd and this time made with organic cotton T-shirts. They are available to buy online here.
Liberty window celebrates me and my wife's guerrilla gardening
Liberty have created a window that brings to life their new fabric design "Richard and Lyla". It is one of their four guerrilla gardening themed fabrics that they designed after seeing our work in streets around London's Elephant and Castle. The little characters of Lyla and I have been enlarged as large cartoons standing amongst all sorts of gardening related clobber they have for sale in the Outdoor Living Department, including my book On Guerrilla Gardening.
The Fleet River Channel prosposal shortlisted
The Landscape Institute, Mayor of London and The Garden Museum launched a competition this summer for a spectacular piece of new London green infrastructure, something equivalent to New York's magnificent new High Line park. My entry was one of 20 shortlisted from 170 hopefuls. The idea was to liberate the portion of the lost River Fleet that runs beneath Farringdon Road and New Bridge Street, an idea inspired by a book on wedding present (a book on Lost Rivers) and a visit to Seoul this August where the Mayor liberated a lost river and soon after became South Korea's President. Unfortunately Boris wasn't a judge, or perhaps I might have actually won. This went to an idea to grow mushrooms in the abandoned Royal Mail tunnels beneath Oxford Street. All other 19 shortlisted entries were from trained architects and landscape architects so it was of great satisfaction to have broken into this cabal. The 20 short listed designs are on display at The Garden Museum and have been written about extensively in the press. An article by Stephen Bayley expands on the entries including a few words about my role as a guerrilla gardener. Download my entry here.
Talks, talks, talks
It's a busy season of talking about guerrilla gardening. Camp Bestival in Dorset, TEDx in South Korea, Ö Festival in Sweden, Truth is Concrete in Austria... the list goes on. For more details visit my EVENTS page at the guerrilla gardening website.
Mint Tornado at Edinburgh Fringe
I have designed and planted a mint tornado for Havana Club at George Square Gardens at the Edinburgh Fringe. It's a towering muddle of bric-a-brac from which mint sprouts, it glows at night and it's fragrant all day long. Most of the furniture is salvaged from our pop up mint garden project last year, but the splendid swivel chair was my father's and I remember spinning around on that as high speed as a tot. Long time colloborator Andy Beauchamp built the structure. We hope the tornado will inspire people to grow mint, and of course make a mojito too. Read more about it here on STV's website.
Warner Chappell Noisettes Olympic Promo
Once you've got an Olympic torch everyone wants a bit of the magic. Warner Chappell music publishing wanted to celebrate the Olympics in their office, and mark the moment by promoting the Olympic themed song from their cultural Olympiad act The Noisettes. So my old friend Clara invited me to her office to dress up in my torch bearer outfit and dance around their office for a few hours, a pleasant distraction from my other projects, the results of which now appear on YouTube here.
Pop up garden in Trafalgar Square
I designed two installations on the northern terrace of Trafalgar Square as part of the Greater London Authority's St George's Day celebrations to promote two of my gardening projects. One was a giant pimped pavement, both planted as usual but also painted by the brilliant Emma Allen. The other installation was a series of mobile contraptions from the Mobile Gardeners Park.
Liberty tribute
Liberty are launching a new range of silks and cottons inspired by my guerrilla gardening. Four designs: MayRose (sunflowers), Joan Larke (lavender), Castille (Elephant and Castle forest gardening) and Richard and Lyla (my fiancée and I guerrilla gardening around London landmarks) are part of their Spring Summer 2013 collection called FLOWER SHOW. Each comes in four different colour ways. We've been fortunate to be given a shirt each and several metres of the fabrics which we'll be using to make bridesmaids dresses and lining my suit for our wedding this June, a year ahead of the when the Flower Show is due to be in season.
2012 Olympic Torchbearer
I was on the phone today to the London Olympic Organising Committee providing my inside leg measurements, waist size and details of my running ability. My twin brother's nomination of me as one of the 8,000 British Olympic Torchbearer has been accepted. This means that on Thursday 26 July, on the eve of the 2012 London Olympic Games, I'll be running 300m around Southwark in a jumpsuit carrying the flame - designed by Barber and Osgerby, who funnily enough also designed our plastic toilet brush and bathroom rubbish bin.
Britain's 24th Most Influential Gardener
In today's Daily Telegraph Tim Richardson has listed the thirty most influential gardener's in the UK. It's a fascinating list that includes a chat show host, a restauranteur, a museum curator and a TV commissioner as well as me. Read the list here.
Korean edition of my book
It was with some surprise, and even a little suspicion, that I read an e-mail telling me my book "On Guerrilla Gardening" would be published in South Korea in a few weeks time. It turns out a deal was struck by my British publisher last July. This will be the fourth language edition after English, German and French and is exciting evidence of how widespread interest in guerrilla gardening has become. You can see it online at OnGuerrillaGardening.com
Gardening News of 2011
Guerrilla gardening and Camilla's visit made it into the Telegraph's roundup of gardening news in 2011. Read the article here.
Mobile Gardeners - A Community Interest Company
As a result of campaigning as Elephant and Castle Urban Forest I have been offered and accepted an invitation from the developers Lend Lease to create a community gardening space on a small portion of the redevelopment site. This could be there for three years. Landscape architect and local resident Paul McGann and I are directors of Mobile Gardeners CIC and now begin our adventure transforming a sealed off urban jungle into something alive with people and plants. Do get in touch if you'd like to help.
2011 Guerrilla Gardening London Lavender Pillows
This year's crop of fundraising lavender pillows are now available, made from lavender of our guerilla garden in Westminster Bridge Road. Buy them here. This year the crop was harvested with the help of the Duchess of Cornwall. They are made from Italian cotton (donated by Burberry), screen printed with a Good at Magic design at London Printworks in Brixton and made by hand by Lyla and her fellow Guerrilla Gardening Haberdashery Division team.
Camilla The Guerrilla
I took the Duchess of Cornwall on an urban gardening tour of guerrilla gardens of London SE1 today. We travelled from Clarence House in a vintage routemaster bus and with a little battery operated PA I pointed out the beds as we drove by. At the London Lavender Field we got out and she helped harvest the crop. Read more about it here
Mint Revolution
I'm working with The Lounge and Havana Club spreading a 'Mint Revolution' across the UK. In four cities (London, Brighton, Manchester and Liverpool) we'll be creating pop up urban mint gardens, encouraging people to grow mint, handing out free mint seeds and plants and playing some good tunes on our mobile wheel-barrow boom box turntable. Of course we also hope people will be inspired to enjoy a proper mojito cocktail too made with real mint rather than any of that revolting ready mixed stuff.
Elephant and Castle Urban Forest
On 4 June I attend a "Visioning Event" hosted by local activist group Elephant Amenity Network. I was inspired by Guy Mannes-Abbott's workshop on the threat to the 450 mature trees to join him in his campaign. We created Elephant and Castle Urban Forest, a populist campaigning group and host of events to raise awareness of the issue and destigmatise the public space hidden within the brutal and almost empty council estate, thereby hopefully shaping the major redevelopment in favour of preserving the green infrastructure and public access during and after the investment.
Royal Weeding Day
I was inspired this evening by conversations at Lewisham Green Drinks to launch Royal Weeding Day across the UK. April 29 will be a day to bow down, pull out a weed and show respect to your local landscape. It's all good preparation for International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day.
Exhibiting in the Elephant & Castle
My photograph of the Millennium Dome's Play Zone is now on show in the Polish Restaurant at the heart of the Elephant & Castle shopping centre. Mamuska have hung it on their GREY-T wall. And if you really like it you can buy it. It's a beautiful printed mounted on aluminum.
Windows at Selfridges
I'm currently curating 5 windows at Selfridges on the corner of Oxford Street and Orchard Street. "GuerrillaGardening.org presents..." is a collaboration with guerrilla gardeners and designers from the UK and USA presenting contraptions that help us garden without boundaries. The windows are in place for two months and help promote both guerrilla gardening and Selfridge's gardening pop up store GROW. They are selling GuerrillaGardening.org lavender pillows and our new kagools and tool bags made from recycled tents in partnership with WithInTent.co.uk
Nile Rodgers wears Good at Magic
Nile Rodgers is the super producer and guitarist and founder member of disco band Chic. Today I got an e-mail pointing me towards his blog in which he's wearing one of our T-shirts. Which makes sense really, because it's branded with his logo "The Chic Organization Ltd" and includes a tribute I wrote to his band printed on the inside. The news came from Graham Lewis who runs the Chic Facebook fan page and had presented Nile with the T-shirt. Fortunately he seems pretty relaxed about my unofficial exploitation, appreciating it was done out of genuine hero worship rather than much else. Get well soon Nile.
Kenwood Chef Chandelier
I have created my first design for a new light, using the parts of several Kenwood Chef food processors. Comprising of three whisks, three K-beaters (all of which are unmodified and easily used in your machine), that hang from slots in a disk of MDF, this new light is a quirky celebration of this iconic kitchen machine. View pictures here
Contributed to new big street art book
Tachen has published a huge compendium of street art. Trespass, which has an introduction by Banksy, charts 'uncommissioned urban art' from the last forty years. I have contributed a double page spread of images of guerrilla gardening in London to it. More details here.
Green and Black's Cook Book
Lyla and I have developed a recipe that's in the new Green and Black's Ultimate cookbook. We've taken our inspiration from the guerrilla gardening seed bombing technique and created the chocolate seed bomb. It's an oaty, seedy, crunchy, chewy organic chocolate mouthful. Other recipes are from Prue Leith, Lulu and Micah Carr-Hill. More details here
At the Folkwang Essen
Essen is one of Europe's Culture's of Capital this year and at their impressive Folkwang gallery is an exhibition called Hacking The City. I was invited to give a talk and then lead about seventy people on a guerrilla gardening seed bombing and planting session in the city. Videos and pictures to be posted at GuerrillaGardening.org.
Art in Tblisi
I have recently been in Tblisi, Georgia contributing to the Frozen Moments, a collection of installations by artists from around the world in the ruined former Ministry of Transportation. My contribution was "Quadrants in Tundra 145", a mapping of the battles between nature and the striking architecture of this 1970s masterpiece. You can see pictures by clicking here.
GuerrillaGardening.org and Liberty of London
GuerrillaGardening.org is collaborating with Liberty in celebration of the power of flowers. Good at Magic has designed a new screen printed lavender pillow, as ever stuffed with guerrilla grown lavender from South London. You can buy them by clicking here.
Alive
I've been given a little camera by my colleagues at VCCP and asked to make some short videos inspired by Don Fardon's I'm Alive and the new 5 Alive Dancing Dodo ad. Of the three my favourite stars 5 kittens which Lyla and I are currently fostering for Battersea.org.uk
A London Leader 2010
I've been appointed a London Leader for 2010 by the London Sustainable Development Commission, the sustainability advisers to the London Mayor. It's a voluntary position and the project I've devised for us to champion is PIMP YOUR PAVEMENT. This is a rallying cry to get people (specifically Londonders) gardening in their street and an experiment to see if a bit of 'top down' support can help change the local authorities view of guerrilla gardening to vocal encouragement.
Logos galore for the music business
I've just clocked up another design for a music act. Which makes the tally now top 10 act UNITING NATIONS, Faithless' new record label NATES TUNES, new act KYLA LA GRANGE and the complete set of album and single artwork, logos and photography for THE FUNKTUARY.
My French book
My book "On Guerrilla Gardening" is now available in French to join the already published English and German editions. It's changed a bit, a few updates for France, a new title and far less pictures (sorry, the French will just have to buy the English book too for those).
Masses of talks this year
I continue to sow the idea of guerrilla gardening in audiences all over the place, and have just updated the "Events" page listing what's in the diary so far this year (as well as the travels over the last three years). Click here to see more.
Lavender Pillows 2009
This year GuerrillaGardening.org lavender pillows are made from all sorts of different recycled fabrics... and a few have been hand embroidered by Christina Dunphy. You can see (and buy) them here and make your home a sweeter smelling place.
Logo design for The Funktuary
I've designed all the art work for forthcoming releases from dance act The Funktuary. Best known for their top 10 remix of Armand Van Helden's My My My, they now have their own album, juke box of forthcoming singles and a logo, typographic identity and set of original photographs all done by Good at Magic. You can view the album covers in their Facebook album here
Germany and Switzerland Tour
I've got some long train journey's coming up as I give a series of talks in Germany and Swizterland on guerrilla gardening. Munster (4 July), Frankfurt (9 July), Berlin (10 July), Stuttgart (11 July), Zurich (13 July). More details at OnGuerrillaGardening.com
Linz Subversiv Messe
Linz is celebrating being European Capital of Culture this year and has invited 'subversives' from around the world to congregate in a black wooden box next to the River Danube and share their ideas, spray cans and in our case (that's me and Julia, a guerrilla gardener from Berlin) packets of sunflower seeds. Visitors to Subversiv Messe include school children and also apparently under cover police who are anxious that this is a hot bed for terrorism funded by tax payers
The Swine Flu Antidote
What with all this terrible news about swine flu it remind me of the Good at Magic Swine T-shirt, a celebration of pigs. It's an antidote to all the negativity. Buy your one, click on the Swine Antidote ad.
Growing Stuff launch
Black Dog published a new book this week called Growing Stuff. I've written a couple of entries (Seed bombs and Guerrilla lavender pillows) as well as the foreward. More info at Amazon.
Welcome to Mauritius
The Ministry of Renewable Energy and Public Utilities together with The British Council invited me to participate in their Maurice Ile Durable (Sustainable Mauritius) week. I led a series of talks, workshops with professionals, students and the simply curious (including the Deputy Prime Minister) discussing environmental communications and guerrilla gardening.
Welcome to Botswana
I'm off to Gaborone in Botswana this week to lead the British Council's Management Express course. I'll be giving a number of presentations, both about guerrilla gardening and also leading a day long workshop on communication strategies. Unlike my rather combative relationship with local government officials in Southwark, my area of London, I'll be meeting Botswana's Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism Kitso Mokaila as part of my visit and have been invited to talk at a couple of school assemblies. It's going to be a fascinating visit.
Top Reviews
BBC Radio 4 Gardener's Question Time and The Sunday Times have both praised my book in recent weeks as one of the best gardening books of 2008. The Sunday Times picked it as one of the best gardening books of 2008 and Gardener's Question Time picked it as one of their top five for Christmas, "probably one of the most unusual gardening books of 2008, it's well written, well researched and very inspiring." Listen to the review here.
French and German
My book, On Guerrilla Gardening, will be published in two new translations in 2009, French and German. Orange Press are scheduled to print their German edition in Spring 2009.
All over the world
As news of guerrilla gardening spreads around the world, so I increasingly get called upon to write about it or speak about it. The Canadian Centre for Architecture and Droog in The Netherlands have commissioned articles and I'm off to Moscow later this month to talk at The Network Effect 'Identity of Cities' conference. And scattered across the diary are numerous talks to English village horticultural clubs. For more details about forthcoming events check out: On Guerrilla Gardening Events.
The Recycled Garden at Hampton Court
In May I asked the Royal Horticultural Society if they'd let me build them a show garden entirely from discarded plants at the Chelsea Flower Show. They said "yes, and there's even more discarded plants to make use of." So I'm partially submerging a skip and filling it with plants. Read the blog at RecycledGarden.net.
New York Times profile
There's been a quite a bit of publicity about my book On Guerrilla Gardening, but the profile in the New York Times magazine this weekend is the first to stray into the realms of Good at Magic, referencing T-shirt and music production. Read the story here.
Book launched
My first book, "On Guerrilla Gardening" was officially launched today at the Museum of Garden History in London. Published by Bloomsbury, it's available all over the place. Signed copies will be available soon from Good at Magic.
Decorating
17 years ago at the age of 13 I was paid by a stranger to wallpaper and decorate their house. It was a remarkable success and for the next six years this was my main employment (except for when I was at school). Today I am resuming the business. Contact me for a quote.
Meopham Horticultural Society
In the delightful surroundings of Meopham Village Hall in Kent I set up the Kodak Carousel projector and gave my hour long slide show On Guerrilla Gardening. The crowd seemed enjoyably fascinated and one lady took my bag of GuerrillaGardening.org lavender pillows and sold them to her friends, cleaning us out of the 2007 harvest. It's time to stitch some more.
"On Guerrilla Gardening" out in May
My book, "On Guerrilla Gardening - a handbook for gardening without boundaries" will be published on 5 May (UK) and 27 May (USA). This collection of stories from gardeners around the world who cultivate land without permission will hopefully inspire you to take arms. Pre-order it now by clicking here.
The Good at Magic T-shirt shop reopens
Five years ago Good at Magic began as a range of T-shirts and so now I'm delighted to announce that these shirts are available once more, including two new designs by Sol Nicholson of Goldsmith's College that celebrate two heroic kitchen appliances. The online shop has reopened online and inhouse. All shirts are now at a new price of £15. To browse the sixteen designs click on the SHOP button in the menu bar above.
A Hedonist's Guide To Life
I've written a chapter about guerrilla gardening for a book called "A Hedonist's Guide To Life". The Amazon synopsis is: "A Hedonist's guide to Life is a collection of essays renowned and respected authors on life's more hedonistic aspects. Topics range from love, sex, food and gambling to music, drugs and religion. If you've ever wanted to know about orgy etiquette, how to act like a high roller without actually having a cent, freebase alcohol or join a cult while retaining your soul then this is the book for you." Buy it from Amazon.
Charlton & Blackheath Horticultural Society
Tonight my Kodak Carousel 2050 slide projector and I are off to SE7 to talk about guerrilla gardening for an hour or so to the members of the local horticultural society. It's the first of talks to clubs like this about the subject and hopefully the start of many more. I shall be planting some Allium "Purple Sensation" by the roadside on the way home.
Guerrilla lavender pillow harvest
Guerrilla-gardener-grown lavender has been harvested from a south London traffic island and stuffed into a limited edition of 200 fragrant linen pillows screen printed by Good at Magic and Sol Nicholson of Goldsmith's College. The full story and the chance to buy one can be visited at the GuerrillaGardening.org website. Proceeds go towards the guerrilla gardening campaign, fighting filth in public space with forks and flowers.
"Smart City" Emergences Festival, Paris
I will be giving a presentation about guerrilla gardening at the 5th Festival Emergences at the Cite Internationale Universitaire de Paris on 26 September 2007. Emergences is dedicated to discussing electronic cultures and emerging artistic forms and this year has an emphasis on doing this in urban space.
"No More Land Mines" advertisement
No More Land Mines filmed a new ad this week to raise awareness about their charitable cause. Together with other supporters I was invited to be an extra in what promises to be a stunning 60" film shot by the award winning commercials director Andy McLeod. Our role was to sit on four Battersea Park benches and keep are feet off the ground. It was an excruciatingly painful exercise, but not as bad as loosing a leg.
Port Eliot LitFest
I am at the Port Eliot Lit Fest during the weekend of 21 July this summer on the main stage at 5.30pm on Saturday to talk about guerrilla gardening. Port Eliot is a place described as having "a great deal of books and a great deal of soul". Martin Parr is there talking about photography and Gaz Mayall is hosting a cabaret stage. So do come pitch up your tent in the grounds of Port Eliot and let me know if you're coming. Find out more at the Port Eliot LitFest website.
Internationales Gartensymposium NÖ
I am speaking at an International Gardening Symposium in Austria on 15 June. For more information visit After Image's website (which is in German). It is the high point of a European tour meeting and photographing guerrilla gardeners. The itinerary includes Melk, Berlin, Amsterdam and Brussels.
Guerrilla Gardening - New TV documentary
Al Gore's new user generated web cable thing called Current TV launched yesterday and my Guerrilla Gardening project was part of the launch line up. In conversation with Richard Madely about the channel Big Al said we were great. The documentary is good too. You can view it by visiting the Current TV website.
Photography Exhibition
An exhibition of Good at Magic photography is at the hair salon Cello until the summer. Call in at 92 York Street, London W1 to take a look, and get a trim at the same time.
London Lavender Pillows
Nine months ago fellow guerrilla gardeners and I dug up a neglected traffic island in Lambeth and planted hundreds of lavender plants. We harvested the crop of flowers at the end of the summer and have stuffed them into hand made pillows. It's all in aid of GuerrillaGardening.org, fundraising for our forthcoming projects in spring.
Oyxgen 10 Years On
A reunion for broadcasters and listeners of Oxford's Oxygen 107.9fm is planned for Friday 16 February at The Prince in Brixton.
Guerrillas in Libya
Guerrilla Gardening reached Libya as I dug into a Tripoli pavement with the support of the Revolutionary Youth Committee.
Good at Magic Ts in 300% Cotton book.
Helen Walters has published a third book celebrating T-shirts. "300% Cotton", published by Laurence King, includes T-shirts by Good at Magic. You can buy a copy from Amazon here.
Bloomsbury to publish "On Guerrilla Gardening"
My book about Guerrilla Gardening, a history of the movement and a manual for the front line, is to be published by Bloomsbury in 2008.
TATE Modern back with more new Deller T-shirts
The Southwark Cyclists T-shirts designed by Jeremy Deller are back. This time in a limited run of 200 bright green shirts, stocked exclusively at the Tate Modern... not even for sale in my little online shop here. But there are another 200 limited edition shirts available online at the Tate shop, these are in a fetching cranberry colour and you can get them by clicking here. (The link will take you to small sized male shirt but they are available in different sizes and cuts)
Guerrilla Gardening Japanese TV documentary
A half hour TV profile of Guerrilla Gardening in London was broadcast today on NHK, Japan's state broadcaster. A team from Dom Productions followed me and other guerrillas for four days earlier this summer and filmed the guerrilla gardening transformation of a large brick planter in Manor House, London.
Good at Magic planning Peroni
I have started planning the advertising on Peroni for The Bank advertising agency. Enjoy the current campaign here at Peroni's website.
New Guerrilla Gardening Community
A new online Community board launched today for GuerrillaGardening.org as a place for guerrillas around the world to meet, plot and report of victories and failures. Sign up and get involved by clicking here
Notice Your Nuts
My advertising planning at DLKW for Everyman, the male cancer charity, has led to Adam and Dave's new "Notice Your Nuts" film. You can view it by clicking here
Salvatore Ferragamo & The Vanden Plas
Santa Margherita by The Vanden Plas has been chosen up by Salvatore Ferragamo for a compilation available through their US stores. It seems they make more than fine shoes and silk ties. If you don't have the record I recommend getting the Kemia Bar compilation available here
TATE Modern selling last of Deller T shirts
The strictly limited to 150 Jeremy Deller Southwark Cyclist Red T-shirts are nearly gone. The last 40 are now on sale exclusively at the Tate Modern gift shop on London's South Bank. Available in sizes gut for men and women. Other Good at Magic T-shirts are available from the online shop.
Guerrilla Gardening invited into Earl Courts
I've just built a garden in Earls Court, a 2 square metre plot of Cosmos, Petunia and Geraniums within concrete kerb stones against a back drop of nocturnal Southwark. It's a bit of theatre to illustrate a trend at this year's London Interiors exhibtion (all be it an Exterior trend!) The invitation has triggered me to cultivate a PowerPoint presentation all about guerrilla gardening which will be presented this afternoon in their Trends Seminar.
Guerrilla Gardening Question Time
BBC London hosted a carnival of badgers and beetles on London's sunny South Bank as part of Springwatch. I joined a panel of garden and wildlife experts on stage to answer gardening questions from the crowds and listeners. The BBC were also handing out free packets of Wildflower seeds, perfect for Guerrilla Gardening.
Guerrilla War screams Stratford Guardian
Front page news this week in Stratford is the Guerrilla Gardening dig in Vicarage Lane. I called by this afternoon to top up the shingle and buy a copy of the newspaper. Read the story by downloading a PDF here.
Sinner Winner ASBO
Our friend Phil has finally been gagged by some beastly officials from Westminster Council. He can no longer preach with his loud speaker in an area bounded by Marble Arch, Regent Street and Portman Square. The ban lasts three years.
Exhibition at the Van Alen Institute New York
The Van Alen Institute have invited me to exhibit three Guerrilla Gardening projects at their exhibition "The Good Life" (7 Sep - 1 Oct 2006), Pier 40 Hudson River Park, New York. The theme of the exhibition is to illustrate the importance of well designed public spaces for recreation and leisure in elevating the quality of life.
BBC Spring Watch
The BBC are going to town this year for Spring Watch and staging regional events to coincide with Bill Oddie's TV show about badgers. London's bash happens on Saturday 3 June, and there will be live animals, organic veg, a jazz funk band, and me as the Guerrilla Gardener on the South Bank near Coin Street for the afternoon.
The Vanden Plas
Good at Magic offers, with thanks to Anna at Most Records, their beautifully compiled double album "One Night At Momo's Kemia Bar" for just £12. This includes the only full length digital release of our very own balearic epic 'Santa Margherita' by The Vanden Plas, as well as tracks by Candi Staton, Charles Webster, Tiefschwarz and Bang Bang.
Guerrilla Gardening Donations
If you'd like to help support Guerrilla Gardening you can sign up and make PayPal donations at the website, or shopping for T-shirts and my record in the Good at Magic store also goes some way to make it more viable, and Britain that little bit more attractive.
Gardening at breakfast time
The biggest Guerrilla Gardening dig yet was begun last night, with a crew from BBC Breakfast watching on. 12 troops turned up bearing implements and an assortment of shrubs and bulbs. One half of the traffic island near Lambeth North tube has been transformed, the results will be shown on BBC Breakfast on Monday 20 March.
May Moonwalk
Full moon falls on a Saturday in May so we're going to Paris. Let me know if you want to come along. www.themoonwalkers.org
GG in ES magazine
Olivia Stewart-Liberty joined me and about 10 or so Chelsea College of Art students for a dig in St George's Circus last week. We planted 5 huge Rosemary bushes, 30 Lavandual angustifolia and a bundle of primulas. The full report is in today's ES magazine. Read it here.
Richard & Judy help out in the garden
Well they didn't exactly get stuck in, but they did help fund some Guerrilla Gardening in Camberwell and broadcast one of our digs on their show. But Judy seemed a little disapproving and knocked back Richard's enthusiasm by reminding him "some people like concrete". Find out more at Guerrilla Gardening.org
Sinner Winner Man Down Under
Our friend and fellow T-shirt designer, P.G. Howard is currently off London's streets. Our loss is Australia's gain. He's taken his megaphone down there. Click here to see what he's up to.
Mail On Sunday buys me shit
I've been out gardening again, this time with Tony from the Mail on Sunday, who kindly brought his own shit to dig. The night's work can be seen at Guerrilla Gardening, and read about by downloading the full story.
Seeding Guerrilla Gardening on the beeb again
Guerrilla Gardening was invited "On The Sofa" for Charlie Crocker's" syndicated evening show on BBC local radio. In between some soothing Coldplay and David Gray we chatted about the highs and lows of planting in the dark, and took a call from a vegan. Read more about it at
T-shirts in forthcoming book
Three Ts: "Punch Scene", "Sinner Winner II" and "Deller's Cyclists" are be included within a new book called 300% Cotton. It's all about T-shirts and available later this year from Laurence King publishing.
Guerrilla Gardening on Radio 4
Listen to the documentary about Guerrilla Gardening that was broadcast on BBC Radio 4, Monday in December: Click here. And take a visit to St George's Circus, Elephant and Castle. The Christmas trees I planted are for life, not just Christmas.
Project Mona Lisa
Good at Magic have with Heather Pople been hosting a photography competition for Delany Lund Knox Warren. Quite remarkably, after an expert shortlisting and a democratic vote by staff, Good at Magic have also won the competition with "Play Zone", which was taken in the Millenium Dome. Cries of "foul play" have been ignored. It's magic.
Good at Magic T in NME
Clara spotted Alex Needham of the NME looking very happy in his pink Good at Magic Quincy Jones Thriller T-shirt in this week's NME. Yes this is exciting, really it is. Read the full article in our PRESS section.
Voodoo Ball
On Saturday 29th October we will be partying in Southwark's gruesome Clink Prison to raise money for the Internationl Red Cross. It's a Halloween Voodoo fancy dress theme. Tickets are limited to 200. You can buy yours from the Voodoo Ball website
BBC Radio 4 come gardening with us
Alison from Radio 4's "You and Yours" joined me on a Guerrilla Gardening dig on bank holiday Monday. We dug up a portion of St George's Circus in Southwark and planted some Pansies, Coreopsis and Rudbeckia. Take a look at the Guerrilla Gardening home page to see the results.
Time Out poo poo
"Phil 'Megaphone Man' Howard seems to divide readers between anger, outrage, and outright disgust. That would suggest there won't be much of a market for printing T-shirts featuring his well-known 'sinner/winner' catchphrase"... so say Time Out this week. Prove them wrong all you good people. You are the winners.
Kiss FM back The Sinner Winner T-shirt
Robin Banks a long time supporter of the Sinner Winner man of Oxford Circus, is backing our campaign to raise money for the poor of Eastern Europe by selling Phil's Sinner Winner T-shirts. Listen out for developments of the campaign on his Kiss FM afternoon show.
Southwark Council award Guerrilla Gardening
Despite Guerrilla Gardening's activities being mildly illegal, Southwark Council have turned a blind eye and cheerfully awarded them a certificate for "Greening In Southwark" in appreciation of their horticultural regeneration in the Elephant & Castle.
Sinner Winner Man fights off ASBO
Good at Magic were in Horseferry Road Magistrates court to see Phil Howard, (the "Sinner Winner" man), successfully defend himself against an ASBO from Westminster City Council. The man they tried to silence is back at Oxford Circus with his megaphone. See the BBC coverage here.
Turner Prize winner designs us a T-shirt
The Jeremy Deller designed Southwark Cyclists T-shirt was launched at The Globe theatre last week. You can see pictures of the Bike Breakfast on SE1.com. The shirts, each signed by the Jeremy are now available in the online shop.